An A320 crew reported a burning plastic odor in the aircraft at cruise. An emergency was declared; t...

Attributes
ACN	883827
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 180 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 3874
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210 Flight Crew Total 16000 Flight Crew Type 9500
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

We where at cruse when the flight attendant called and said she could hear a noise. We could also hear it and had her check the ovens and cooler. About the same time we started to smell a burning plastic odor. The flight attendant in the back called and said they were smelling an odor also. The captain got a call off to dispatch and maintenance. The odor was getting worse so I asked the captain if he wanted me to run the QRH. We put on our O2 mask; and ran it. When I put the two fan switches in ovrd; the noise went away. I lifted my mask to see if the smell was going a way and it was getting better but still there. We then started to divert and declare an emergency. Landed with out any further incident and the odor was gone.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 crew reported a burning plastic odor in the aircraft at cruise. An emergency was declared; the QRH checklist completed and the aircraft diverted to a nearby airport. The odor and noise decreased when OVRD was selected for the two fan switches.

Narrative: We where at cruse when the Flight Attendant called and said she could hear a noise. We could also hear it and had her check the ovens and cooler. About the same time we started to smell a burning plastic odor. The Flight Attendant in the back called and said they were smelling an odor also. The Captain got a call off to Dispatch and Maintenance. The odor was getting worse so I asked the Captain if he wanted me to run the QRH. We put on our O2 mask; and ran it. When I put the two fan switches in OVRD; the noise went away. I lifted my mask to see if the smell was going a way and it was getting better but still there. We then started to divert and declare an emergency. Landed with out any further incident and the odor was gone.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

An A320 crew reported a burning plastic odor in the aircraft at cruise. An emergency was declared; the QRH checklist completed and the aircraft diverted to a nearby airport. The odor and noise decreased when ovrd was selected for the two fan switches.